I have been out several times so far. The water on the Mississippi and other rivers and lakes are so high and fast that I can only do the back waters. Has been the wettest season in years, so not that many good days for being out on the water. I have not had any problems. Sure have a lot of people asking me about it, and I give them your website address. I have done several things – Have a trolley anchor system fixed up and have tried several fishing crate configurations and have settled on one. I drive a Jetta and have a easy way to get it up on top. Still not there on a cart design yet but have one that works for now. I have added wide strips of Velcro to several on the seat areas so I can a fix a watertight box, soft tackle box and a drink holder, as well as a seat I made up. It works for me and if can help someone that would be great.

I live in Wisconsin on the Mississippi. I go on the back waters and here is what it looks like:

The Mississippi river in Wisconsin, where I fish with my kayak

My fishing crateI tried the standard crate that was shown but I had some problems with it being behind me. I moved it to the front but I had a hard time seeing so I cut it down and that helped a great deal. I can now lay the rods down and that makes them easy to reach.

How I set the seating area –I wanted to have several things available. A drink holder, a small soft tackle box, a dry box and a seat with a back. I hold them down with wide Velcro strips. Easy on and off.

My anchor system –I did a little variance on the troy anchor system. I wanted to be able to take it on and off easy. So I attached it with a bungee on each end. Works well.

The most important problem I had to face was how to transport my W – I have a Jetta and it is a small car as you know.First was to get a roof rack. That was not as expensive as I thought.Then, how to get the W on top without scratching the car. I found a set of soft removable roof racks at a yard sale. I put one on the edge of the trunk and the other just below the antenna mount.

Now it was easy to just put the front end of the W on the trunk edge and then slid the it up and on the the roof rack without ever touching the car or straining myself.

How I tie down the W –Now that I have the W on top of the Car how do I make sure it stays there.One is front and back straps. That is the Law in Wisconsin. Next is I take two wide bungees on each side mid way on the W. Last is I use a long or two shorter bungees that go all the way over the W and around the paddle that I have in the snap holders on the W. This works great for me and even while I drive on the interstate everything is fine.

3 Comments

I like the front crate (tray). It looks handy. I wonder if it’s possible to make something bigger, based on the design for the poling platform, and using saddle brackets. Just a thought… Oh, and Larry’s art website is delightful! Pete

Another great post and with excellent photos. As your story shows, personalizing your kayak is both addictive and a process that never seems to end.

Your solution for getting the W500 on top of the car is one of the best I’ve seen.

You describe how one of the soft roof rack pads is just below the antenna mount, though the antenna doesn’t appear to be installed. My car, like many others these days, has the same arrangement. How clever of Yoav to design the Wavewalk with twin hulls just so there would be no need to remove your antenna when car-topping :-).

The bungee loop-&-ball is a simple and elegant solution to the constant reoccurrence of slack in the line. Thanks.